11/5/12 7:32 AM EST

Among likely Latino voters, those with consistent vote history or have already voted, 73% say they plan to vote for Obama compared to 24% for Romney and 3% undecided. If Obama wins 73% or higher of the Latino vote, it would eclipse the 72% won by Bill Clinton in his landslide re-election in 1996, and mark the highest total ever for a Democratic presidential candidate. ...

On the issue the candidates talk about the most – the economy – Mitt Romney has not been able to move Latino opinion over the 11 weeks of polling. When it comes to moving forward with a plan to fix the economy and create jobs, 71% of Latinos say they trust Obama and the Democrats, compared to 20% who trust Romney and the GOP. These rates are virtually unchanged from 5 weeks ago, suggesting the constant discussion of the poor state of the economy under Obama, by the Romney campaign has done little to persuade Latino voters.

When John McCain lost Latinos by 36 points in 2008, Republicans said they would certainly have to do better next time. Instead, the opposite has happened, and as Maggie and I write today on the homepage, some influential voices in the GOP would blame a Romney loss on his decision to run strongly to the right on immigration.